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41-405: In the 1880s America experienced a vast expanse of railroads. 75,000 miles of track were built. The state of Florida went from 500 miles of track to 2,489 miles of track in ten years. Although roads have been important in providing the residents of Hernando with a means of transportation, it was not until the extension of the railroad to Brooksville, the commercial center of the county, that the area

82-540: A Southwest Florida Water management employee, discovered an abandoned box car in a swampy area southeast of Brooksville in Sumter County. It was hauled to the Brooksville Train Depot and restored. The work car was originally owned by Cummer Sons Cypress Lumber Company which cut timber in the area of the “ Green Swamp ”. The work car's normal function was to transport workers to the work site, but

123-543: A lavish resort built right across the Hillsborough River from Tampa. Built at a cost of $ 3 million, it was said to be an attempt to compete with fellow industrialist Henry M. Flagler , who was developing Florida's east coast. Plant died from heart disease in New York City on June 23, 1899. In his will he attempted to prevent the partition of his properties to the value of about $ 10,000,000 by forming

164-744: A position with Beecher and Company, an express company located in New Haven which was taken over by the Adams Express Company . Plant was transferred from steamboats to railroads. After a few years he was put in charge of the old York office of the company. In 1853 his wife, Ellen Elizabeth (Blackstone) Plant was ordered South for her health. After a journey of eight days, the Plants arrived in Jacksonville in March and spent several months at

205-651: A private home near Jacksonville, Florida , then a tiny hamlet. Plant was impressed with the possibilities of the future development of Florida. The next year, after it became necessary for his wife to again travel south for her health, he requested and obtained the responsibility for all Adams Express Company's interests in the territory south of the Potomac and Ohio rivers. In the face of great difficulties, he successfully organized and extended express service across this region, where transportation facilities, although rapidly growing, were still deficient and uncoordinated. At

246-517: A private school. His grandmother, Betsy Plant, who hoped to make a clergyman of him, offered him an education at Yale College , but, impatient to begin an active career, he got a job as captain's boy, deck hand, and man-of-all-work on a steamboat, The New York, plying between New Haven and New York City. Among his various duties was the care of express parcels . This line of business, hitherto neglected, he organized effectively. After marrying Ellen Blackstone in 1843, Plant decided to stay ashore and took

287-566: A trust for the benefit of his grandson, Henry Plant II (born 1895), but the will was contested by his widow and son and declared invalid under the laws of the state of New York. This decision made possible the consolidation of his railroads with other properties to form the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad , today a key portion of the Florida operations of CSX Transportation . Plant's son, Morton Freeman Plant (1852–1918),

328-703: The Belleview Biltmore near Clearwater, Florida . The subsequent growth in wealth and population of Florida and other states tributary to the Plant System made its founder one of the richest and most powerful men in the South. A good physical inheritance, preserved by temperate habits, made it possible for Henry Plant to keep working until almost eighty years of age. His first wife died in February 1861, and in 1873 he married Margaret Josephine Loughman,

369-677: The Connecticut College for Women . His former 1905 mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City is now the home of Cartier . Seaboard Coast Line Industries Seaboard Coast Line Industries, Inc. , incorporated in Delaware on May 9, 1969, was a railroad holding company that owned the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad , its subsidiary Louisville and Nashville Railroad , and several smaller carriers. Its railroad subsidiaries were collectively known as

410-817: The Family Lines System . Its headquarters were in Jacksonville, Florida , in the United States . Through 1979, the Family Lines network totaled 16,326 miles (26,274 km) in 13 states. The company succeeded SCL Industries, Inc. , incorporated August 1, 1968, in Virginia and renamed Seaboard Coast Line Industries, Inc. on February 5, 1969. On November 1, 1980, Seaboard Coast Line Industries merged with Chessie System, Inc. to form CSX Corporation (Chessie-Seaboard Multiplied), and in 1983

451-701: The Florida East Coast Railroad along with several resorts along its route. Henry Bradley Plant was born in Branford, Connecticut , to Betsey ( née Bradley) and Anderson Plant, a farmer in good circumstances. He was the descendant of John Plant who probably emigrated from England and settled at Hartford, Connecticut , about 1639. When the boy was six, his father and younger sister died of typhus. Several years later his mother married again and took him to live first at Martinsburg, New York , and later at New Haven, Connecticut , where he attended

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492-664: The PICO Hotel in Sanford for the accommodation of his railroad and steamship passengers to Central Florida. Subsequently, he either built or purchased the Inn at Port Tampa (1888), Hotel Kissimmee (1890), Seminole Hotel (1891), Hotel Punta Gorda (1894), The Ocala House (1895), and the Fort Myers Hotel (1898). Tampa , then a village of a few hundred inhabitants, was made the terminus of his southern Florida railroad and also

533-527: The Plant Investment Company , a holding company for the joint management of the various properties under his control. He reconstructed and extended several small railroads so as to provide continuous service across the state, and by providing better connections with through lines to the North he gave Florida orange growers quicker and cheaper access to Northern markets. In 1887, Plant built

574-740: The Croom line were some small spur lines built from Brooksville to the Gulf of Mexico for logging camps with tracks running to the Fivay Mill in Pasco county, to Wiscon, Tooke Lake, and Centralia. In 1911 the Tampa Northern Railroad built an additional line north from Tampa to Brooksville.  This gave Hernando county two daily passenger and freight schedules. Supplementing the Croom line were some small spur lines built from Brooksville to

615-620: The Gulf of Mexico for logging camps with tracks running to the Fivay Mill in Pasco county, to Wiscon, Tooke Lake, and Centralia. The Atlantic Coast Line bought the Florida Southern Railroad, and both Atlantic Coast Line and Tampa Northern serviced the Brooksville Train Depot . In 1911 the Tampa Northern Railroad built an additional line north from Tampa to Brooksville.  This gave Hernando county two daily passenger and freight schedules. Supplementing

656-561: The Gulf of Mexico for logging camps with tracks running to the Fivay Mill in Pasco county, to Wiscon, Tooke Lake, and Centralia. The Atlantic Coast Line bought the Florida Southern Railroad, and both Atlantic Coast Line and Tampa Northern serviced the Brooksville Train Depot. After the Stock Market Crash in 1929 , the railroad business plummeted. The spur to Tooke Lake and Centralia was closed, along with many other little used railroads. Trucks hauled freight and automobiles took

697-575: The Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad, of which he became president. He purchased and rebuilt, in 1880, the Savannah and Charleston Railroad, now Charleston and Savannah. Not long after this he organized the Plant Investment Co., to control these railroads and advance their interests generally, and later established a steamboat line on the St. John's river, in Florida. From 1853 until 1860 he

738-595: The Southern Express. The railroads of the South had been practically ruined and many railroads went bankrupt in the depression of 1873 . In this situation, he found his opportunity. Convinced of the eventual economic revival of the South, he bought at foreclosure sales in 1879 and 1880 the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad and the Charleston and Savannah Railroad . With these as a nucleus he began building along

779-627: The United States. The vacant Brooksville Train Depot became the property of the CSX railroad. In 1991 The Hernando Historical Museum Association purchased the 1885 Train Depot along with an acre and half of land from CSX for $ 12,600 and restored the building. It is now a museum for visitors to enjoy.   The 1885 Train Depot Museum is made up of four parts. The Office - Visitors enter in

820-554: The approach of the Civil War the directors of Adams Express, fearing the confiscation of their Southern properties, decided to sell them to Plant for his promissory note of $ 500,000. With Southern stockholders of the company he organized in 1861 the Southern Express Company , a Georgia corporation, and named himself president. Because he had built a reputation for providing reliable and efficient express service,

861-598: The box car could be used provide space for cooking and eating, sleeping, office work, and machinery operations. Henry B. Plant Henry Bradley Plant (October 27, 1819 – June 23, 1899), was a businessman, entrepreneur, and investor involved with many transportation interests and projects, mostly railroads, in the southeastern United States . He was founder of the Plant System of railroads and steamboats . Born in 1819 in Branford, Connecticut, Plant entered

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902-570: The cabinet of Confederate president Jefferson Davis made Plant's company the agent for the Confederacy in collecting tariffs and transferring funds. In 1863, claiming a serious illness, he left his home in Augusta with a safe passage document signed by Jefferson Davis and sailed to Bermuda. After spending a month there, he traveled to Canada, Connecticut, and then England. When in France, he

943-709: The daughter of Martin Loughman of New York City, who with one of his two sons survived him. He was honored at the Cotton States and International Exhibition in 1895 in Atlanta, GA with his own, Henry Plant Day. Henry Plant built or bought eight hotels, including several in Tampa, Florida and the new town of Port Tampa , which he built at the end of his rail line. His most prized hotel was the Tampa Bay Hotel ,

984-527: The early 1960s the tracks at the Brooksville depot were gone. The depot was used as an administrative office a few more years before it closed completely. In 1967 the two big railroads, Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line merged and called the new railroad, Seaboard Coast Line (SCL). In 1980 another merger of several railroads caused the formation of the CSX railroad, the largest railroad system in

1025-527: The home port for a new line of steamships to Havana . For the accommodation of winter visitors he built in Tampa, in the style of a Moorish palace, an enormous hotel costing over $ 3,000,000 and covering 6 acres situated on 150 acres. Opened on February 5, 1891, it was the first hotel in Florida to have an elevator, electric lights, and a telephone in each room. The hotel was called the Tampa Bay Hotel and

1066-484: The nation's railroad system and establishing regular steamship service between Tampa, Cuba, and Key West , helping to spark significant population and economic growth in the region. To promote passenger traffic, Plant built the large Tampa Bay Hotel resort along his rail line through Tampa and several smaller hotels further south, starting the area's tourist industry. His semi-friendly rival, Henry Flagler , similarly sparked growth along Florida's opposite coast by building

1107-401: The office area, the front of the depot. This is where passengers came to buy their tickets, arrange for freight shipment, and send telegrams. The Freight Room - The freight room houses train artifacts and displays depicting historical railroad events.  Two HO model train exhibits delight the kids and adults alike. See original objects used by early settlers as they struggled to survive in

1148-497: The people longed for the day when they would have a rail connection to the northern markets. Their hopes were raised when the Florida Southern Railroad was incorporated in 1879 for the purpose of striking a line from Central Florida to Charlotte Harbor (Port Charlotte). By 1881 it had pushed south to Gainesville and by 1885 it was at Pemberton Ferry , near Croom , just ten miles east of Brooksville.  But

1189-408: The place of passenger train cars. Railroads fought back with piggyback flat cars that hauled the loaded trucks. Railroads offered special excursion train rides. School groups rode the train from Brooksville to Tampa for day long field trips. The railroad offered vacation packages to south Florida travelers from Hernando county. These efforts were not successful and railroad use continued to decline. By

1230-434: The railroad had no plans to extend to Brooksville. Despite all the railroad activity, Brooksville and a great portion of the county was still lacking a railroad in 1885.  Several local citizens then realized that they had better act fast, or Brooksville might remain in a state of virtual isolation. Led by John Hale, four forward thinking business leaders (John Parsons, Christopher Keathly, John Hale, and W.S. Hancock) in

1271-571: The railroad service in 1844, serving as express messenger on the Hartford and New Haven Railroad until 1853, during which time he had entire charge of the express business of that road. He went south in 1853 and established express lines on various southern railways, and in 1861 organized the Southern Express Co., and became its president. In 1879 he purchased, with others, the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad of Georgia, and later reorganized

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1312-421: The southern Atlantic seaboard a transportation system that twenty years later included fourteen railway companies with 2,100 miles of track, several steamship lines, and a number of important hotels. In 1882 he organized, with the assistance of Northern capitalists (among whom were M. K. Jesup, W. T. Walters, and Henry Morrison Flagler , who himself would be instrumental in the development of Florida's east coast)

1353-622: The state and Henry Flagler along the Atlantic coast built hundreds of miles of rail, extending the state's total to 2,566 miles. For Floridians it was a dream come true, for thousands of square miles of back country were opened to the tourist and the real estate operators. In the early 1880s the closest rail contact for Hernando county residents was at Wildwood, thirty miles to the northeast.  Merchandise, produce, tourists and other items bound for Brooksville had to be transported there by wagon or stage over miles of dusty trails.  Naturally,

1394-581: The telegraph company.   The Florida Southern Railroad was part the Plant railroad system. Henry Plant took his railroad to Tampa and beyond. He aided the development of Tampa as a major port. In 1911 the Tampa Northern Railroad built an additional line north from Tampa to Brooksville.  This gave Hernando County two daily passenger and freight schedules. Supplementing the Croom line were some small spur lines built from Brooksville to

1435-582: The tiny town of Brooksville were eager to bring the railroad to their area. They formed the Brooksville Railroad Association and The Brooksville Telegraph Company and paid $ 20,000 to The Florida Southern Railroad to lay track twelve miles from the main line at Pemberton Ferry (Croom), to Brooksville. Bonds were sold and the Train Depot built in 1885. The building still stands today. W.S. Hancock and Frank Saxon became officers of

1476-416: The wilderness of  Hernando County. The Freight Dock - On the enclosed dock of the museum, ring the bell, sound the siren, or take your child's picture sitting in an original 1925 LaFrance Fire Engine; the first fire engine purchased by the city of Brooksville. Also, on the dock are exhibits of farm equipment, industrial tools, and more railroad apparatus. Cook \ Utility Box Car - Ron Daniel, while

1517-571: Was famous for its fanciful Moorish and Victorian architecture. In 1898, this hotel gained international fame as the stateside military headquarters for the U.S. invasion force during the Spanish–American War. The hotel now serves as the main building for the University of Tampa and houses the Henry B. Plant Museum . Another large, Victorian-style hotel established by Plant was opened in 1897,

1558-549: Was general superintendent of the southern division of the Adams Express Co., and in 1867 became president of the Texas Express Co. In the 1880s, most of his accumulated railroad and steamship lines were combined into the Plant System , which later became part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad . Plant is particularly known for connecting the previously isolated Tampa Bay area and southwest Florida to

1599-462: Was given real opportunity to grow. Some railroads had been constructed in Florida before the Civil War, but they were short, isolated ones for the most part.  No construction occurred during the war and extraordinarily little directly after it. By 1880, Florida had but 550 miles of railroad concentrated north of Ocala.  But during the next decade, Henry B. Plant in the western section of

1640-525: Was informed that his Confederate passport was not valid. After some discussion with French authorities, an unusual resolution was reached as he was issued a French passport declaring him a U.S. citizen residing in Georgia which allowed him to travel extensively across Europe and later re-enter the United States when he returned to New York by way of Canada . After the war, Plant returned to the South in February, 1865 to reclaim his business interests, primarily

1681-734: Was vice-president of the Plant Investment Company from 1884 to 1902 and attained distinction as a yachtsman. He was part owner of the Philadelphia baseball club in the National League , and sole owner of the New London club in the Eastern League . Of the younger Plant's many gifts to hospitals and other institutions the most notable were the three dormitories and the unrestricted gift of $ 1,000,000 to

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